


How Can I Sleep if I Don't Have Dreams?

by chvotic



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Best Friends, Cats, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Gen, Implied Relationships, Insomnia, Loneliness, POV GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Platonic Cuddling, cat and patches are obsessed with george, its pretty vague though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 21:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30078405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chvotic/pseuds/chvotic
Summary: “Um…” George had half a mind to turn off his face cam, but he couldn’t make his muscles move. “I guess that’s it for today, guys. I’m… s-sorry, I don’t think I can go for any longer. I guess I’ll raid, uh, Ranboo. Have fun at his stream. Bye guys.”George rushed to end his stream, and once he was sure it was over, he let the rest of the tears spill down his cheeks. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he opened Twitter. His name was already trending.OrGeorge is extremely sleep deprived and just wants to be in the same country with his friends.Title from 'Staying Up' by the Neighbourhood
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	How Can I Sleep if I Don't Have Dreams?

**Author's Note:**

> i'm nervous to post this, but yk, i'm just gonna go for it
> 
> **a few things!**
> 
> dream/george can be read romantically or platonically, i wrote it with both in mind tbh. there's also a lot of cat and patches content bc we're lacking that rn 
> 
> this is also me projecting my own struggles, so this was a comfort for me to write, pls don't be too harsh
> 
> anyways, i hope you enjoy :]

George was tired.

Aware that his facecam was currently displayed to an odd one hundred thousand people, he held his yawn back as he stared at his screen. His cursor blinked back at him as the Jackbox music played softly through his headphones, along with the soft sounds of someone typing.

It was only the beginning of the stream and George was exhausted.

He hadn’t even wanted to stream in the first place, but he’d seen how much his fans wanted him to. The _I miss George_ tweets were appearing more and more on his Twitter timeline the longer he went without streaming, and it made him feel incredibly guilty. It had only been a week or so since his last stream, but he still felt awful for leaving his fans hanging for so long.

But he was so, so tired. Tired to the point he couldn’t think of anything funny to type in response to the prompt. Or, really, he couldn’t think of anything at _all_. He could already predict that he was going to get called out for pandering by his friends.

Ignoring the thought, George’s eyes flickered over to his facecam. The ugly, black bags under his eyes were obvious, obvious enough that he could see the odd comment or so appearing in chat. Chat was moving far too fast for George to dwell on it, so he chose to ignore it instead.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to sleep. He really wanted to sleep. But lately, he found he couldn’t, even when he tried.

Over the last week or so, he’d managed to get only around five hours sleep in total. George didn’t even know why going to bed had become so hard recently, and why as soon as he laid down, he felt wide awake. As soon as he laid down, his thoughts would start tormenting him, and his eyes would remain open as he stared up at the ceiling for hours on end.

Most of those times, he would seek out his friends, or anyone who was online at the time. It was mostly Dream and Sapnap he went to first, as he always had, and they never commented on why he would appear hours later after he said he was going to sleep.

When he did sleep, his mind conjured nightmares that would wake him up a few hours later. George rarely remembered the dreams, but he always felt sick and anxious afterwards.

“George!” Quackity’s voice jolted George back into the present.

He blinked, confused for a second, eyes blurred. When the blurriness cleared, he glanced over to chat, which was moving even quicker than before. Messages passed by so quick he could barely read any of them. However, there was one he caught that told him exactly what had happened.

_did george just fall asleep lmao_

Had he? George couldn’t recall the last few minutes. Embarrassed, he chose to ignore chat yet again and pretend like nothing had happened.

“You have three seconds, Georgeee!”

George sighed, then groaned when the countdown finished. He hadn’t written a single word.

“I messed up, guys.” George tried to laugh it off as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

Everyone, predictably, made fun of him when each answer of his was empty. George wasn’t really listening, far too focussed on trying to ignore the heavy feeling of his eyelids trying to close. He leant on his elbow, the beginnings of a headache pulsing in his forehead as he tried his best to be entertaining.

When round two began, George’s Discord pinged with a notification.

_Dream, 3:06am_

_did you fall asleep?_

As he read the message, he used his fist to rub at his tired eyes. They burned foo staring at his computer screen all day, but he ignored the uncomfortable feeling as he began to type a response.

_To Dream, 3:06am_

_no_

Dream immediately began to type. George could hear the keys clicking through his friend’s mic.

_From Dream, 3:06am_

_i’m watching your stream, you look awful_

_have you been sleeping?_

George’s heart began to pound in his chest at being called out. He didn’t reply for a few seconds, and he felt the odd urge to burst into tears and spill everything that was on his mind to his best friend. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

He didn’t, though, because he was still aware that he was streaming to over one hundred thousand people, and that he was in the middle of a game with his friends.

_To Dream, 3:07am_

_im fine_

Dream sent another message a few minutes later, in the middle of the round, but George ignored it. For the rest of the stream, George failed horribly, and it felt like he was at the end of his rope. He kept it up for the viewers, though, and forced a smile on his face as he bid his goodbyes.

The moment he clicked end and raided Quackity, George slumped in his chair and buried his face in his hands. Tears began to burn in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall as he took a few deep breaths. Before he could do anything else, his Discord exploded with sound.

George wasn’t at all surprised when he saw Dream calling him. He considered ignoring it, but decided that wasn’t such a good idea, and moved his cursor over the accept button. For the first few seconds, it was silent a moment before Dream started talking.

“George? Are you there?”

“Yes.” George’s voice wavered on the three letter word, which made him cringe.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.”

George felt awful for lying, but it had become a habit that was hard to get rid of.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

He bit down on his lip, eyes watering. George felt so incredibly overwhelmed, but the words wouldn’t force their way past his lips. He took a deep, shaky breath, which he was sure Dream would be able to hear, before he responded.

“Not really.” George regretted the words as soon as they came out, but he didn’t backpedal.

“Alright.” Dream replied softly. “Wanna hop on a server with Sapnap and I, then?”

“Sure.”

Hopping onto a random Minecraft server with his best friends turned out to be a great idea. George was able to forget about his worries for a few hours, even though he was struggling to keep his eyes open, and just chill. When his friends had to disconnect from the call, however, George felt all the feelings and thoughts return as he began to scroll through Twitter for a lack of anything better to do.

Dream and Sapnap had to leave for lunch or something along those lines. He wanted more than anything to be in America with his best friends, living with them like they had been planning to for years. George felt incredibly lonely, holed up in his house every day because of the lockdown. 

Scrolling through Twitter wasn’t helping, either. There were so many screenshots of him circulating around the trending topics, and he could see the clip where he fell asleep during the beginning of the stream. A lot of fans were expressing their concerns for his wellbeing, and others were half-heartedly making fun of him.

George ended up turning off his computer all together and made his way over to his bed. Cat was already curled up on one of his pillows, peering at him with inquisitive eyes. George smiled softly as he laid down, Cat immediately abandoning the pillow in favour of his chest. He scratched Cat behind the ears, who began to purr softly and snuggled deeper into his chest.

George, of course, couldn’t fall asleep despite how much he desired to. He remained awake for the three or so hours that Dream and Sapnap were gone with a pounding headache, absentmindedly petting Cat as he stared up at the ceiling. He may have cried a bit, but no one needed to know that.

No one needed to know how ridiculous he was, lying here feeling sorry for himself, hating the fact that his friends were together without him.

When Dream began to stream with Sapnap, no one needed to know about the hollow feeling in his chest as he watched, teary-eyed, surrounded by the loneliness of his room.

_No one needed to know._

-

A week later, nothing had changed. George had maybe gotten another few hours of sleep here and there, but he felt even worse than before.

He knew Dream and Sapnap had noticed, but he tried to play it off like he had slept an adequate amount, and that he wasn’t slowly crumbling. He’d even taken to making his status invisible on Discord when his friends thought he’d gone to bed.

He hadn’t streamed since his last Jackbox stream, and he knew if he went live, it would turn out even worse than his last one. So, he didn’t, and he tried not to notice the concerned tweets about him circulating around the internet.

But, of course, nothing ever went to plan, and a few days later George forced himself to stream because the guilt became too much for him to handle.

Almost immediately, the chat exploded with life, his excited viewers thrilled that he was streaming again. George smiled at the love he received so quickly, but he couldn’t stop the tremor in his hands, or the way his knee bounced rapidly beneath his desk. Cat sat on his lap, licking gently at his hand, as if he knew that there was something wrong with him.

“Hey chat.” George began, thankful that he managed to keep his voice from wavering. “I’m sorry I haven’t streamed in a while. I’ve been, uh… busy. Yeah, busy.”

The first donation came through, and he answered it like he usually would, keeping a smile plastered on his face. His cat shifted, and was now rubbing his head against the palm of George’s hand. George’s smile became a little more real as he began to pet the cat, eyes trained on chat. A lot of the comments were telling him to go to sleep.

“Since I keep losing all my stuff on the SMP, I thought I could do some grinding.” George continued as he loaded up Minecraft. “This probably won’t be a very long stream. I, uh, I knew you guys missed me. So, um…”

George trailed off when his eyes started to water. He didn’t even know why they were watering this time, but he forced the emotion back as he logged onto the SMP.

The first half of his stream went well. He spoke with chat as he got new tools and armour for himself. It was all going well, and he even felt a little relaxed, before a donation came through that changed his entire mood. He had started reading it out loud without thinking.

_“Hey George, your streams have seemed off lately, we miss your old streams :( Where are Dream and Sapnap? It would be more interesting if they were here. Could you say hi to Marcie?”_

When George finished reading, he had no idea how to respond.

It wasn’t necessarily hate, and George wouldn’t usually be affected by a donation like that, but he was already teetering on the edge, and what the person had said did nothing to help that.

Chat had exploded with distaste at the donation, and he was still trying to figure out a way to properly respond. He bit his lip, hands beginning to shake again as he continued to run around aimlessly in Minecraft. There were a few others online, like Ranboo and Tubbo, who he ran past without really noticing.

“Uh, hi Marcie.” George started, even though three more donations had passed since. “I’m… sorry. I didn’t think…”

George’s breath hitched involuntarily, and he shut his eyes for a moment to collect himself.

When he opened his eyes, they were flooded with tears. Embarrassment filled his body as his cheeks flushed red, and his entire body had begun to tremble as he tried to articulate his words. Nothing came out, though, and he found himself just staring down at Cat, who was still nudging his hand for a pet. He complied, and at the same time, a tear dripped down his cheek and landed on his hoodie.

“Um…” George had half a mind to turn off his face cam, but he couldn’t make his muscles move. “I guess that’s it for today, guys. I’m… s-sorry, I don’t think I can go for any longer. I guess I’ll raid, uh, Ranboo. Have fun at his stream. Bye guys.”

George rushed to end his stream, and once he was sure it was over, he let the rest of the tears spill down his cheeks. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he opened Twitter. His name was already trending.

There were a lot of concerned and angry tweets and threads appearing each time he refreshed. He knew it was only a matter of time before people started sharing the clips of him crying. The vod had already saved, and there was no use in deleting it. People would have clipped it by now.

He should have turned his facecam off as soon as he read the donation.

George closed Twitter after a few minutes of aimless scrolling, too overwhelmed to continue. He had no idea what to do now, and instead of trying to figure out a solution, he just sat in his computer chair and cried. Cat meowed softly and placed his front paws on George’s chest, then nudged his chin with his head.

George’s chest hurt as he heaved in short breaths.

George didn’t know how long he had been sitting there bawling his eyes out when his Discord began to blow up with notifications. He lifted his head to read them, but made no move to respond. Most of them were from Sapnap and Dream, but there was one from Ranboo too.

_From Sapnap, 4:15am_

_hey dude, what’s going on? twitter is going insane rn, are you okay?_

_From Dream, 4:15 am_

_i saw what happened on stream, that dono was uncalled for. wanna call?_

_From Sapnap, 4:16am_

_i saw the clips, do you wanna call?_

_From Sapnap, 4:17am_

_we’re worried about you, dude_

_From Ranboo, 4:18am_

_hey man, i heard from chat what happened, i hope you’re doing okay_

_From Dream, 4:21am_

_george? please answer_

_From Dream, 4:22am_

_sap and i are in vc if you want to join, we love you_

As much as George hated the thought of annoying his friends with something so stupid, he couldn’t deny the fact that he wanted to talk to them. When he opened their Discord server, he saw Sapnap and Dream waiting in the in their voice call. George almost bailed out last second, but in the end, he forced himself to join.

“George!” Sapnap exclaimed the moment he entered the call. “Dude, are you okay?”

George tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled kind of noise that sounded more like a sob.

“Oh, George…” Dream trailed, his tone laced with pain. “What’s going on with you?”

It took him a good few minutes to get his voice to work, and when he finally got the words out, he sounded downright pathetic.

“I can’t _sleep._ ” George choked out. “I hate this f-fucking lockdown, I want to be with you guys. The donation-”

“-was bullshit.” Sapnap finished his sentence for him. George hated how sad his friend sounded, and it made the tears come even quicker. Cat meowed and tucked his head beneath George’s chin, and it was almost like the animal was hugging him. “When was the last time you slept?”

“I don’t know.” George whispered, and his breath hitched again. “I don’t _know._ ”

“That’s alright.” Dream cut in. It wasn’t, all three of them knew that. “Deep breaths, George.”

George forced his lungs to comply as Sapnap spoke again.

“We want you here too,” Sapnap sighed, “but this fucking virus won’t go away.”

“I hate it.”

The call fell into silence, save for George’s occasional hiccups and sniffles. The silence was somewhat comforting, which helped calm him down, but his heart continued to race violently in his chest.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Dream asked after a while, his voice even quieter than it had been before. It almost made George burst into tears again, but he held the emotion back and listened to what his friend was saying. “You know we love you, George.”

“I know.” George replied and wiped at his eyes. “It’s just stupid.”

“No it’s not.” Dream replied instantly. “Nothing like this could ever be stupid, George. Neither of us would judge you for something you can’t control.”

More tears trickled down George’s cheeks as he listened to Dream’s honest words.

“Why don’t we sleep call?” Sapnap said next. “It might help?”

“Okay.” George took a deep breath. “I don’t think it will work, though. Nothing’s been working.”

“We can always try.”

With that, the three of them switched onto their phones. George went through his proper ‘bedtime’ routine for the first time in weeks, and took comfort out of listening to his friends do the same. By the time he was in bed with Cat beside him, he was wide awake again, just as expected. This only caused George to grow frustrated, which resulted in him bursting into tears for the umpteenth time that night. Never had he felt so pathetic in his _life_.

He was surprised when Dream and Sapnap started talking about random things. George didn’t say a word unless he was asked a question, and simply listened to his friends talk as he tried to calm down. He knew they were doing it to distract him.

It was working. His best friend’s voices were comforting, comforting enough for his tears to slow and his eyes to close.

When Dream asked an hour later whether or not George was still awake, he and Sapnap were left with silence.

-

Even though George had slept for hours on end, it didn’t make him feel much better.

When he woke up, he had a massive headache and a blocked nose from crying. For a moment, he was confused, until he saw his phone resting beside his hand. When he turned it on, he realised that the battery had almost run out of charge.

His cat meowed at him, then jumped off the bed and moved to scratch the door. George laid there for a few minutes longer with no inclination to get up, before he let out a deep sigh and yanked the covers off his body.

With some of the energy he’d gained from sleeping, he dragged his body around the house as he fed Cat, fed himself, went to the bathroom and had a shower. Before long, George was sat in his computer chair, staring at Twitter.

George had been asleep for around twelve hours. A lot seemed to have happened in that time, and it took his brain a while to comprehend it all.

Dream had tweeted a few hours ago, and it looked like it had blown up more than his other recent tweets.

_dream @dreamwastaken_

_if you’re going to donate to your favourite content creators, at least have the decency to be respectful_

George liked and retweeted the tweet, then let out a sigh and placed his head in his hands. He didn’t want to read any of the fan’s responses, even with the knowledge that the majority of them were being supportive and were worried about him. It made him feel guilty, and also made his head hurt even more.

After ten or so minutes of contemplation, George pulled up his Twitter again and started to type out a tweet. Once he was finished, he read it over, before he pressed tweet.

_George @GeorgeNootFound_

_going to take some time off from streaming and youtube, i hope you all understand. will be back soon :]_

Replies started flying in immediately, and most of it was positivity. Not even a minute after he’d posted the tweet, both Dream and Sapnap had replied.

_dream @dreamwastaken_

_< 3<3<3_

_sapnap @sapnapalt_

_love you man <3_

George liked both their tweets, closed Twitter and opened Discord.

As he had hoped, Dream and Sapnap were both in the same voice call as when George fell asleep.

This time, he joined without any hesitation.

-

Months pass, George manages to get somewhat of a sleeping schedule (somewhat, meaning one that was still terrible) and things aren’t as bad as they used to be. It was still bad, but it was easier. George returned to streaming and uploading one and a half months after his tweet, and even while he was still struggling to sleep, it wasn’t as hard anymore.

It’s been seven months since George cried on stream. He still thought about it every now and then, and saw the odd clip of it on social media, but for the most part he tried not to think about it. It was humiliating. Humiliating to the point that it was another one of those things that kept him up at night.

But today, today he was happier than usual. Finally, it was safe enough for George to fly to Florida to be with his best friends.

Packing and getting ready to fly out was the happiest George had felt in months. On the drive there, he couldn’t contain his excitement as his knee bounced up and down with nerves. Now, he was seated inside of the plane, and felt awfully sick. He missed Cat, who was in the cargo hold somewhere. George couldn’t leave the country without him, of course.

_To Dream and Sapnap, 7:08am_

_about to fly out!!_

Not even thirty seconds later, two messages appeared beneath his own.

_From Sapnap, 7:08am_

_LET’S GOOOOOO_

_From Dream, 7:08am_

_WOOOOO_

George sent some emojis back to his friends before he turned off his phone, and turned to look out the window. It was raining, and the plane was kind of cold, but it was nice. Even though he was exhausted, he wouldn’t change any of this.

To his own surprise, George fell asleep not even an hour into the flight, and didn’t wake up until the pilot started the usual speech about landing. George looked around the plane, incredibly groggy, and wondered where all the time had gone. That was the quickest he’d fallen asleep in months, and he’d woken up without the crushing anxiety he felt after a nightmare.

When the plane finally landed, the nerves began to fully kick in. George shifted anxiously in his seat as the plane was taxied across the runway, his brain overwhelmed with all the thoughts he was having.

He was about to see his best friends in person for the first time.

Soon enough, he was off the plane and had Cat and bags with him. Now, he stood out the front of the airport, shifting from foot to foot nervously as he took in his surroundings. George looked for his friends, lower lip cought between his teeth as he tapped his fingers against the top of Cat’s carrier. Cat, who was meowing impatiently and trying to get to him.

Dream had sent a message half an hour ago when George had just gotten off the plane that they were almost there, and that they were going to be late.

“Shhh,” George muttered to his cat, who pawed at his finger when he pressed it against the front of the carrier. “You’ll be out soon, it’s okay.”

Cat meowed again, and George sighed sadly.

When he looked up to search for his friends again, he didn’t expect to see Sapnap standing just a few feet away from him. Even with a mask on, George could definitely recognise his friend.

The two of them stared at each other in silence for a few moments, before Sapnap’s eyes crinkled in a way that told George he was grinning. Before George could comprehend it, Sapnap broke into a run almost barrelled him over in a hug.

“Georgie!” Sapnap exclaimed, laughing. “You’re finally here!”

George laughed too and wrapped his arms around his friend. His eyes began to water, but he pushed the mushy emotions back and squeezed Sapnap just as tight. “I am!”

They laughed and hugged each other for a few seconds longer before Sapnap pulled away and peered into Cat’s carrier. Cat meowed and pawed at the carrier’s door again, which caused Sapnap to coo and poke his finger into the cage.

“Where’s Dream?”

“Parking the car.” Sapnap replied and straightened up. “Sorry we’re late, by the way.”

“It’s okay.” George grinned. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

Sapnap beamed back. “Me too.”

He and Sapnap made small talk as they waited for Dream to arrive. George was beginning to get nervous again, and when he caught his reflection in his phone’s screen, he saw the hideous bags under his eyes. Despite all the sleep he had gotten on the plane, they still hadn’t gone away. He was pretty sure it didn’t work that way.

George’s mood change must have been noticeable, because Sapnap was frowning when George turned to him.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.” George replied unconvincingly.

“Still not sleeping?”

“Not really.” George rubbed at one of his eyes. “I did the whole way here, but I still feel awful.”

Sapnap frowned and reached out to rub George’s shoulder.

Nothing else was said about the topic as they continued to wait for Dream to arrive. George felt sick - the adrenaline from meeting Sapnap was gone now. It would have been easier if both of his friends had been there at the same time, and all the nerves would have been over with by now.

“Dude!” Sapnap suddenly shouted and made George jolt in fright. He had been lost deep in his thoughts. “What took you so long?”

“Fuck off, it’s so busy.” George’s head snapped in the direction of Dream’s voice. Dream was already looking at him as he walked over, eyes crinkled in the same way Sapnap’s had when they’d first seen each other. “George!”

George didn’t know what to say, and he was saved from having to say anything when Dream wrapped him up in a hug so tight it could rival Sapnap’s. George was much shorter than him, as predicted, but he was at the perfect height to rest his head on Dream’s shoulder.

“Hi.” George muttered, for a lack of anything better to say. Dream laughed and squeezed him tighter for a moment.

“Hey.” George’s eyes were watering again and this time he couldn’t hide it when he pulled back.

“Awww, Georgie!” Sapnap cooed and patted his shoulder again.

“Shut up.” George snapped without any heat. “I’ve waited for this day for so long.”

“We know, so have we.” Dream’s eyes looked watery, too. “Come on, let’s go to the car.”

With that, George gathered his belongings and Cat, and together they headed to Dream’s car.

George couldn’t have been happier.

-

George sat alone in his room, his new room for the time being, absently picking at the covers. It wasn’t too late but he was exhausted like he always was, and he had no idea what to do. Jet lag didn’t even really exist for George. His sleep schedule was so fucked up he couldn’t even tell whether it was his usual exhaustion or jet lag.

His friends were still awake, Sapnap was even streaming. No one, aside from the three of them and a few others, knew that George had joined them in Florida. They were planning to spring it on the fans randomly on a stream in a few days.

George eventually gave in and opened Sapnap’s stream to see what was going on.

Sapnap was on the SMP with Karl, Quackity and Dream. Dream was on his DreamXD account, and they seemed to be having fun messing around. George watched, Cat curled up by his side, Patches on his other.

Patches seemed to have taken to George and Cat without a hitch. Dream had said that Patches loved George, and was surprised when she seemed to like Cat too. It had made George smile, and now he found himself surrounded by two cats. In the hours he’d been here, he didn’t think he’d been away from one of the cats for more than five minutes.

“I’ll be right back, guys.” Dream brought George’s attention back to the stream.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on his door. “George?”

“Yeah?” George closed the stream just as Dream opened the door. It was awfully strange, seeing his best friend right there in front of him, face to face. George had seen Dream’s face before, of course, but it was only through FaceTime and a few odd Snapchat’s every now and then. Seeing it in person was a whole other level.

“What’s up?” George asked.

“I saw you were watching the stream.” Dream was grinning, eyes locked on the two cats. “Patches loves you, what the hell?”

George laughed softly and stroked Patches’ fur. “As she should.”

“You’re such an idiot.”

George rolled his eyes and continued to dote over Patches.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” George whispered. “Fine.”

“You’re tired.”

“‘M not.”

“When you say it like that, you contradict yourself.” Dream laughed. George smiled a little, but didn’t meet Dream’s eyes. “Really, though, George. How are you feeling?”

George shrugged.

“Why don’t you join the stream?” Dream asked when George couldn’t think of something to say quick enough. “The others have been asking where you were.”

“I don’t feel like it right now, sorry.” George hated that he was so tired. “It hasn’t even been a day yet and I’m ruining everything with my moods.”

“What? No.” Dream denied immediately. “What are you talking about? You’re not ruining anything.”

George shrugged again and used his other hand to pet Cat when he got jealous.

“Why don’t you just come in my room and watch, then?” Dream suggested. “You don’t have to be in the stream, or anything. Just thought you might want some company?”

“I have company.” George replied and gestured to Patches and Cat with a smirk. Dream let out a laugh and shook his head in false disappointment. “Fine, fine.”

Dream grinned and stood up. George followed his friend out of the room and down the hall, and grinned when he saw that Patches and Cat were trailing after them like two shadows. George paused in the doorway of Dream’s room for a few moments and took it all in.

He didn’t move until he felt both cats push past his legs and toward the bed. Dream was fiddling with something at his desk, so George took that as his queue to get himself settled.

George slumped onto Dream’s bed and watched in amusement as Patches and Cat jumped up after him and quickly draped themselves all over him.

Dream turned around at that exact moment and shook his head with a soft smile before he sat back down at his desk.

“Throw something at me if you want my attention.” Dream said without turning around, which made George let out a sudden snort.

“Are you serious?”

“Mhm.” Dream replied. “Now shush, I’m unmuting.”

“Wait!” George said, and saw Dream pause. “Take your headphones out, I want to hear too.”

“Ugh, fine.”

George relaxed onto the bed with Patches and Cat as his friend’s voices filled the room.

“I’m back, guys.” Dream said, and the call erupted with noise, mostly Quackity yelling. George stared up at the ceiling as he listened to their voices.

George shut his eyes after a while, letting the comfort of his friend’s voices wash over him. He felt Cat move, the animal walking all over him before inserting himself right under George’s arm. Not even a second later, Patches moved too, and was tucked beneath his other arm.

The longer the laid there with his eyes closed, the more distant the voices became.

Before he knew it, George was out like a light.

_George remained blissfully unaware of Dream when he ended stream, turned around and immediately grabbed his phone to take a photo of him, Cat and Patches curled up together on Dream’s bed._

-

“Dream!” George yelled the next morning, just half an hour after he woke up, as he lunged for Dream’s phone. “What the _hell!_ ”

Dream was wheezing as he held his phone just out of George’s reach. He’d just tweeted the picture of George asleep with their cats.

_dream @dreamwastaken_

_patches likes him more than me :(_

Sapnap was also cackling, fingers already moving across his own phone’s screen. A second later, George received a notification that Sapnap had replied to Dream’s tweet.

_sapnap @sapnapalt_

_she even likes george’s cat better than you. L_

George eventually gave up on trying to get Dream to delete the tweet, so he went onto Twitter himself to get a gauge of the reaction. Most of the fans were losing their absolute shit, as it was pretty clear that George was in Florida now.

Well, there goes their surprise stream, then.

George found he wasn’t too mad, and retweeted the photo with a simple caption.

_George @GeorgeNootFound_

_:]_

-

A few more chaotic (and sleepless) days later, George is once again at the end of his rope.

He’d just finished streaming, his first stream in his new setup. He had another one of those headaches he got when he was tired and stressed, and this time, he didn’t feel like dancing around the subject with his friends. What was the point when they knew him better than he knew himself?

It was also a lot harder to hide things when they were in person.

When George stumbled into the living room, Cat on his heels. Both Dream and Sapnap looked up from where they were watching a movie together.

“How was the stream?” Sapnap asked, and George found he had no energy at all to answer.

So, instead, George shook his head and let out a short, restricted sigh.

He practically collapsed into the couch beside Dream, Cat following without a hitch and cuddled into his lap. Patches, who had been in Dream’s lap, shifted so her head was resting on George’s arm.

Dream nor Sapnap said anything, which George was grateful for. They continued to watch the movie, George looking at the screen and not really paying attention. One moment, his eyes were open, and the next, they weren’t.

_Both Dream and Sapnap looked over to George when the man slumped over, his head now resting on Dream’s shoulder. He was passed out, Cat and Patches all the same._

_They turned to each other with a relieved look, thankful that their friend was finally starting to get some sleep again._

_If Dream snapped another photo of George sleeping, covered in cats and head on his shoulder, the rest of Twitter would know about it the next day when he posted it._

-

It turned into a routine.

George would stay awake for an unhealthy amount of time, maybe stream, then collapse on either Dream or Sapnap when he was too burnt out to continue. George was embarrassed to admit that he had started needing someone else around him in order to fall asleep, but Dream nor Sapnap ever called him out for it.

It was getting better, though. About a month into staying with his friends, he hadn’t been getting exhausted to the point of collapse as often, and his sleep schedule had begun to line up with his friends. Still, every now and then, the insomnia and nightmares would creep up on him again, just like what had happened the night before.

_George hadn’t been sure what set him off this time. Sapnap had asked him a question, something about doing a stream train with Quackity, and George had cried right there on the spot for no reason. He’d been up for three days straight - he’d tried sleeping, but the stress made his insomnia unbearable - and it had all become too much._

_He’d seen the shock on Sapnap’s face, but was thankful when his friend brought him into a tight hug. After that, they retreated to Dream’s room, and watched a movie together on Sapnap’s phone. As always, Patches and Cat were draped over George._

_George didn’t make it through the first twenty minutes of the movie before he was out like a light._

But even then, George was happier now. Eight months ago, he’d cried in the middle of his stream because of lack of sleep and craving to be with his best friends, and now he was here, with them. He wasn’t alone in his house with just Cat to keep him company, he finally lived with his best friends.

George may not be one hundred percent okay just yet, but he was on his way there.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to leave feedback!
> 
> all the usual stuff - if any of the cc's ever become uncomfortable with fanfics i will take this down :]
> 
> thank you for reading <3


End file.
